Myths and facts about the Mozart effect

Introduction: at the end of the last century, an enormous interest was unleashed to unravel the neurobiological aspects of music and its effects on cognitive functions. Since then, and thanks to some medical studies that also suggested it, the idea that listening to some pieces of Mozart could improve certain cognitive functions became popular; in fact, some professionals wrote books extolling the benefits of this type of music in children's brains.

Development: a bibliographic search of the most relevant articles of recent years about the Mozart effect has been carried out, with scientific evidences that support if Mozart´s music can modulate our brain, improving some functions or increasing intelligence. Information has also been collected about the influence of Mozart’s music on people with epilepsy, in order to study if it can provide some kind of benefit in these patients.

Conclusions: there are controversies about the cognitive benefits of the Mozart effect, and at present, it cannot be said that listening to this music favors or improves executive functions. However, the studies on the effect of the Mozart’s Sonata K448 in the brain of the epileptic children are encouraging, being able to modify the electroencephalogram and diminish the epileptiform discharges in the registry. These results should be taken with caution and more good quality studies are needed to confirm the anticomicial properties of this musical work